The Nuns

I had two parents, four grandparents and two sisters, all of whom raised me up. They each brought something special to the mix, even my paternal grandfather who passed away when I was little more than one year old. I don’t remember him directly, but there were photographs of me on Grandpa’s lap with both of us beaming to beat the band. Because Grandpa was quite curmudgeonly, this was regarded as special and I was told the story over and over. So even in his absence I felt his love.

Beyond my immediate family raising me up, I also had the Roman Catholic Church. Specifically nuns from the Religious Sisters of Mercy as well a goodly number of priests. I began school just after Blessed Pope John XXIII began to throw open the doors and windows to let an enormous gust of fresh air into the Church via the Second Vatican Council. It was an exciting, yeasty time to be attending Catholic school. Social justice, human rights and politics became increasingly integral to the daily class called “Religion”. The Vietnam War, the protests at home, the My Lai Massacre and President Nixon peppered our discussions, all within the context of Catholicism.

There were only two scary nuns; Sister Mary M. and Sister Mary C., both elderly and from an earlier, harsher era. And there was only one priest who was a royal pain, but because I called him on his rude behavior toward a fellow student in front of the entire class, I caught his attention. As a result, Father M. trained me to become a Lector and always tapped me for what he described as the “dramatic readings” at Mass. How could I stay mad at a guy who brought me completely past all of my shyness and stage fright to a microphone on the altar?

But it was the nuns who were the daily constant for me. Even now, when the Church and I are not on the best of terms, I still have a warm place in my heart for the strong, independent, warm, feisty, funny, no nonsense, compassionate, knowledge loving women who constantly steadied my moral compass. That’s why this article in the New York Times, by Laurie Goodstein, jumped out at me. The headline: “U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny”. The lede: “The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.”

Regular readers know that I am capable of righteous anger. So I will resist typing much of what bubbled to the surface as I read the article. I do not; nay, I cannot trust this incarnation of the Roman Catholic Church, with Pope Benedict XVI at the helm, to do no harm during these investigations. Pope Benedict reportedly prefers a leaner, smaller, purer Church. So much of what this Pope wants is antithetical to the positive results of the admittedly near seismic shifts of the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II righted wrongs, reached out to the laity and invited ecumenism. The nuns being investigated by the Vatican now, are the same women who reinforced the Golden Rule from my family home and elucidated the finer points of how to put that simple guide into daily practice as a Christian and as a Catholic. These nuns are the backbone of the Church. We need more, not fewer of these unsung heroines of both religion and education.